Not Living in Caves: Phenomena and Images of the Land and Shelter

Abstract

'Now, it's like that movie in ‘The Croods’ - people wanted to stay in the cave. Some wanted to stay in the cave, and that young girl, she wanted to go out and live again and deal with the challenges of living in a different world.' [1]

The work is showcasing a personal excavation of the broad concept of interiority, its meanings, and multifaceted aspects. More specifically, its potent spatial poetics rooted against traditional views generically used in and around the architectural profession. It is dwelled upon various readings using the local socio-political context of a peculiar place of Western Australia as a colourful backdrop for interpretative purpose.

It is about subjective realities and their relation. While being set off by the day-to-day here and now, it reflects a much larger image of the human condition of our time and the ever-present concept of a cave, the ultimate human cradle embedded in our core. The story is also about the origin and everything that starts within a grotto.

‘But that fails to appreciate how safe and warm it must feel in that WA cave [...]’ [2]

Keywords: Interiority, Phenomenology, Context, Dialectics, Poetics

[1] Morrison, Scott. “Interview with Karl Stefanovic, Today Show.” Interview by Karl Stefanovic, Today Show, Nine Network, 24 August 2021, transcript, https://www.pm.gov.au/media/interview-karl-stefanovic-today-show-4. [2] Worthington, Brett. “Scott Morrison scrambles to assert control as Dominic Perrottet opens the international border.” ABC News, 15 October 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-15/nsw-international-border-perottet-morrison-naional-cabinet/100542740.